Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL)

Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 16.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,511 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 504 shares during the quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $585,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Oracle by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 157,411,949 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $26,231,127,000 after acquiring an additional 2,296,069 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,002,902 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $6,332,803,000 after purchasing an additional 156,269 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Oracle by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,814,302 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $5,954,961,000 after purchasing an additional 619,619 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Oracle by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,202,421 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,366,531,000 after buying an additional 1,722,037 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Oracle by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 19,620,534 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $3,269,566,000 after buying an additional 2,176,892 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ORCL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Oracle from $212.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $145.00 target price on shares of Oracle and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Oracle from $200.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Oracle from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.42.

Oracle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ORCL opened at $149.29 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $142.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $163.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $417.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.27. Oracle Co. has a 1-year low of $114.55 and a 1-year high of $198.31.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.02). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The firm had revenue of $14.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.41 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. This is an increase from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.95%.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other Oracle news, Director Leon E. Panetta sold 5,000 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.77, for a total transaction of $648,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 58,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,538,339.30. The trade was a 7.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Naomi O. Seligman sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.81, for a total value of $291,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 34,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,049,400.30. The trade was a 5.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 27,366 shares of company stock valued at $4,015,723. Corporate insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Profile

Oracle Corporation offers products and services that address enterprise information technology environments worldwide. Its Oracle cloud software as a service offering include various cloud software applications, including Oracle Fusion cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP), Oracle Fusion cloud enterprise performance management, Oracle Fusion cloud supply chain and manufacturing management, Oracle Fusion cloud human capital management, Oracle Cerner healthcare, Oracle Advertising, and NetSuite applications suite, as well as Oracle Fusion Sales, Service, and Marketing.